Coach Jeff Blashill said after Thursday’s 3-2 victory over Ottawa at Little Caesars Arena that Cholowski had been assigned to Grand Rapids and will play there Friday. How much time he’ll spend with the Griffins is to be determined, but the Wings see it as best for his development. Cholowski, 20, has a team-worst minus-20.

The Wings’ message to Cholowski was the same they delivered to fellow rookie Filip Hronek: Grow your game.

“We’re looking at what’s best for their long-term development,” Blashill said. “One, he has to play. Two, he gets to do it an environment where he can make mistakes and they’re not as costly as they are at this level. So then he can learn and grow at times at a greater rate than he has here lately.

“We have to make sure that we put the individual growth of some of these young guys that are paramount to our development process and we felt like it was the best move for his individual development. I don’t have a time table on how long, but I’m hoping he does what Filip Hronek’s done and that’s gone down and grown his game. When we sent Fil down at the beginning of the year — honestly, coming into camp, we thought that was going to be Cholowski. He earned his way to that not happening. Fil went down and really improved because of it and his development showed. We’re hoping a similar thing will happen with Cholowski.”

“He’s just been in a position where he’s racked up lots of minuses, both from a plus-minus standpoint and from a chances-against. So let’s go down, let’s grow as a player, and let’s keep getting better. I think he’s had a real good year and it’s been a real positive for him, now let’s keep that positive going.”